Agent and cyber-physical system based self-organizing and self-adaptive intelligent shopfloor

The increasing demand of customized production results in huge challenges to the traditional manufacturing systems. In order to allocate resources timely according to the production requirements and to reduce disturbances, a framework for the future intelligent shopfloor is proposed in this paper. The framework consists of three primary models, namely the model of smart machine agent, the self-organizing model, and the self-adaptive model. A cyber-physical system for manufacturing shopfloor based on the multiagent technology is developed to realize the above-mentioned function models. Gray relational analysis and the hierarchy conflict resolution methods were applied to achieve the self-organizing and self-adaptive capabilities, thereby improving the reconfigurability and responsiveness of the shopfloor. A prototype system is developed, which has the adequate flexibility and robustness to configure resources and to deal with disturbances effectively. This research provides a feasible method for designing an autonomous factory with exception-handling capabilities

Holacracy and Hierarchy Concepts: Which One is More Effective in an Organizational Leadership and Management System?

This paper discusses the importance of installing holacracy practices in the organizations’ core values instead of hierarchy. Since the organizational structures of holacracy and hierarchy are different, the current study aims to compare the functions of both concepts in terms of the management system. Holacracy suggests a more decentralized structure, while hierarchy stands on a centralized one. In holacracy concept, power moves from leaders to processes in an organization as a whole. Further, holacracy also provides a concrete framework for encoding autonomy, agility, and purpose-alignment into the organization’s DNA. Somehow holacracy replaces the conventional management hierarchy with a new structure. In holacracy, instead of operating top-down, power is distributed throughout the organization – giving individuals and teams freedom while staying aligned to the organization’s purpose. This concept has recently been accepted & implemented in some organizations worldly. In this case, the current study aims to concentrate on the main values of holacracy and finds out that what it can really bring for the organizations

Machine diagnosis based on artificial immune systems

Nowadays, many of the manufactory and industrial system has a diagnosis system on top of it, responsible for ensuring the lifetime of the system itself. It achieves this by performing both diagnosis and error recovery procedures in real production time, on each of the individual parts of the system. There are many paradigms currently being used for diagnosis. However, they still fail to answer all the requirements imposed by the enterprises making it necessary for a different approach to take place. This happens mostly on the error recovery paradigms since the great diversity that is nowadays present in the industrial environment makes it highly unlikely for every single error to be fixed under a real time, no production stop, perspective. This work proposes a still relatively unknown paradigm to manufactory. The Artificial Immune Systems (AIS), which relies on bio-inspired algorithms, comes as a valid alternative to the ones currently being used. The proposed work is a multi-agent architecture that establishes the Artificial Immune Systems, based on bio-inspired algorithms. The main goal of this architecture is to solve for a resolution to the error currently detected by the system. The proposed architecture was tested using two different simulation environment, each meant to prove different points of views, using different tests. These tests will determine if, as the research suggests, this paradigm is a promising alternative for the industrial environment. It will also define what should be done to improve the current architecture and if it should be applied in a decentralised system

Architecting Robotics and Automation Societies over Reusable Software Frameworks: the Case of the G++ Agent Platform

This work presents a software framework that allows the implementation of societies made-up by autonomous collaborative devices. The framework is structured as a multi-layer reusable architecture, adopting the software agent as the design paradigm. In this paper, an overview of its main features is offered, and an example of its adoption in the design of a robot colony is provided

A study of the experiential service design process at a luxury hotel

This thesis explores the process of designing experiential services at a luxury hotel. These processes were surfaced by means of a methodology that used the principles of jazz improvisation. Due to similarities between experiential service design and elements in jazz improvisation, representing experiential service design through the jazz improvisation metaphor leads to a new framework for exploring the process of experiential service design that is iterative in nature. A gap in the service design literature is that experiential service design is not operationalized in organizational improvisation, and one contribution from this study will be to fill that gap. This study contributes to the field of knowledge by exposing a new perspective on how experiential services can be better designed by adapting some of the design tools from this luxury hotel; a second contribution is a recommendation for how the improvisational lens works as an investigative tool to research experiential organizations. In the process, some new dimensions to understanding complexity are contributed. The research process utilized qualitative research methods. Frank Barrett (1998) identified seven characteristics of jazz improvisation which I have used as a heuristic device: 1) provocative competence (i.e., deliberately creating disruption); 2) embracing errors as learning sources; 3) minimal structures that allow for maximum flexibility; 4) distributed task (i.e., an ongoing give and take); 5) reliance on retrospective sensemaking (organizational members as bricoleurs, making use of whatever is at hand); 6) hanging out (connecting through communities of practice); and 7) alternating between soloing and supporting. This research is grounded in the body of literature regarding complexity, organizational improvisation, service design and experience design. The role of heterogeneous minimal structures that are fluid and optimize uncertainty is central to this investigation. Themes such as sensemaking and the role of story, meaning-making, organizational actors' use of tangible and intangible design skills, and embracing ambiguity in efforts to design experiential services are explored throughout the dissertation. The anticipatory nature of experiential service design is a principle outcome from the data that is incorporated into the new conceptual framework highlighting a "posture of service"